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The Rev. Walter Fauntroy served as the District of Columbia’s first delegate to Congress from 1971 to 1991, and was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus. In this oral history from the collection of the CBC Foundation, Fauntroy talks about his civil rights work and his political career.

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Charles Rangel entered the Congress as a representative from New York in 1971 and eventually served as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. He lost that position after ethics violation charges surfaced – and his colleagues voted in early December 2010 to censure him. In this oral history from the collection of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Rangel recalls his political career and the founding of the caucus – which marks its 40th anniversary in 2011.

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Yvonne Brathwaite Burke served in the United States House of Representatives from California in the 1970s. In this never before televised oral history from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, she recalls the work of the caucus, her efforts on behalf of displaced homemakers, and an unlikely political battle to save the Capitol beauty shop for working women.

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C-SPAN’s Local Content Vehicles take American History TV on the road. Throughout the weekend of June 15-17 we feature the history of Raleigh, North Carolina.

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Author and professor Jonathan Gill talks about his book “Harlem: The Four Hundred Year History from Dutch Village to Capital of Black America.” To illustrate the scope of the Harlem Renaissance, Professor Gill discusses James Weldon Johnson -- a poet, songwriter, author, educator, diplomat and civil rights activist. This event was hosted by the New York City Bar Association.

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The Civil War Battle of Chancellorsville was fought April 30 to May 6, 1863, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Many historians consider the battle to be Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s greatest victory. Facing a Union Army more than twice the size of his own, Lee divided his forces, sending 27,000 men under “Stonewall” Jackson on a 12-mile march to deliver a flank attack. In this program, we follow two National Park Service historians on a tour as they walk the same ground exactly 150 years after Jackson launched his attack.

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Author Graham Hodges looks at New York City’s cartmen, who hauled goods on one-horse carts and dominated the streets of the city from 1667 to 1850. He talks about how the cartmen developed deep relationships with the merchants and residents of New York City and came to be a part of the civic culture. The cartmen also came to hold political power and can be considered the forerunners of modern labor unions. The Gotham Center for New York City History hosted this event.

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University of Kansas professor Shawn Leigh Alexander teaches a class on the period following the end of slavery to the beginning of segregation. Professor Alexander discusses the failed Civil Rights Act of 1875, the Supreme Court ‘s 1896 “separate but equal” ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson, and African American journalist Ida B. Wells work to expose the horrors of lynching in the United States. The University of Kansas is in Lawrence.
 

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Many historians disagree about Mary Todd Lincoln - some call her corrupt and mentally unstable, while others defend her as an intelligent and politically savvy woman who played a vital role in her husband’s presidency. Author and retired Rhode Island Supreme Court Justice Frank Williams details the controversies, the former first lady’s life and assesses how historians have remembered her. This talk took place at President Lincoln’s Cottage in Washington, DC.

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